Best Foods to Eat with Steamed Rice in Saigon

Steamed rice is the most popular food in Vietnam and it could be served with a wide range of foods such as braised dishes, steamed dishes, soups, salad, and stir-fried dishes… Coming to Vietnam, do not miss enjoy “Com” which means steamed rice and some side dishes. You may be confused when you enter a restaurant/food stall with lots of foods to eat with steamed rice. Here is a recommendation about Best Foods to Eat with Steamed Rice in Saigon which could help you to order the best meal with rice and Vietnamese foods yourself. Normally, Vietnamese people eat steamed rice with a portion of main dish, a portion of soup and a portion of stir-fried vegetable/fresh vegetable/pickle.

Let me tell you something about Saigonese people’s eating habits. In the morning, most locals love to eat Vietnamese Sandwich (Banh Mi), Broken Rice (Com Tam) and noodle soups at home, restaurants and street food stalls. Because most of them couldn’t go home for lunch, some bring home-cooked steamed rice with foods and eat at working places while others have lunch at restaurants and street food stalls. These eateries usually prepare steamed rice with lots of foods for different tastes. Steamed rice is served with a main dish, stir-fried vegetable, fresh vegetable on a plate and soup is served in a small bowl. Dipping sauce, chili, soy sauce are available on dining tables. If you are in Saigon, you can see people go out for lunch everywhere on the streets.

Main dishes:

1. Braised Fish

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Claypot has been considered the best cookware in Vietnam for many years. In recent days, Vietnamese people use other kinds of cookware for convenient reasons but foods cooked in clay pot is the most delicious foods for us. Fish (snakehead fish, anabas) cooked in clay pot with caramel, topped with black pepper is one of the healthiest and most delicious dishes to eat with steamed rice in South Vietnam, including Saigon. To eat, dinner uses a spoon to put the sauce onto steamed rice, remove the bone and eat fish meat.

2. Braised Pork and Egg in Caramel

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Pork is cut into medium cubes and cooked in caramel with boiled egg for a few hours. Unlike Braised Fish in Claypot which sauce is glutinous, the sauce of this food could cover pork and egg when it’s ready. The pork must be tender and turn red-brown. That’s how Braised Pork and Egg in Caramel – one of the most favorite food to eat with steamed rice in Saigon. It’s better to eat this food with herbs and salad. Vietnamese people usually use chopsticks to dip herbs and salad into the sauce and tuck in with pork and steamed rice.

3. Deep-fried Tofu Stuffed with Pork

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After being stuffed with pork, black pepper, wood ear, deep-fried tofu is cooked in tomato sauce for half an hour. This smelling and tasty food couldn’t be missed in the list of Best Foods to Eat with Steamed Rice in Saigon. This food is usually eaten with soy sauce and herbs.

4. Deep-fried Fish

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Vietnamese people love to eat deep-fried fishes so much and they couldn’t be missed at any restaurant or street food stalls serving Steamed Rice. Deep-fried arara, bluefish, carp, red tilapia are the most popular dishes. Locals usually eat crispy fish with sweet, sour and spicy dipping fish sauce. Fish sauce dip has become one of the most important parts of Vietnamese foods. Without it, the Deep-fried Fish isn’t delicious any more.

5. Deep-fried Chicken Wing in Fish Sauce

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In Western countries, people usually chicken with chili paste and tomato paste. In Vietnam, people eat crispy deep-fried chicken wings simmered in fish sauce and garlic on low heat for 3-5 minutes until the sauce thickens. Fish sauce is the soul of this food, it makes the dish flavorful, smelling and good-looking

Soups

1. Sweet and Sour Soup

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Sweet and Sour Soup could be considered as king soup in South Vietnam. It’s usually cooked from fish, pineapple, bean sprout and many kinds of vegetables. Tamarind or lemon is used to make the soup sour. To eat, just dip fish meat and vegetables into fish sauce and eat with steamed rice. Some love to mix the broth with steamed rice to eat.

2. Soup with Pumpkin and Pork

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Instead of grounding pumpkin to cook pumpkin soup, Vietnamese people cut pumpkins into pieces and cook with pork. The broth must be clean, the pumpkin and pork must be tender. Chopped green onion and black pepper couldn’t be missed to make the soup smelling and attractive.

3. Soup with Greens and Pork

Greens are washed carefully and cut into 5-cm segments before being cooked with pork or shrimp. This soup is popular because it’s comfortable to eat and very healthy.

 

 

4. Soup with Chicken and River-leaf Creeper

River-leaf Creeper has a sour taste and this is the best ingredient to cook chicken soup. This is a specialty food which has been loved by many ages in Vietnam.

5. Soup with Bitter Melon Stuffed with Pork

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In Vietnamese, we call bitter melon “kho qua” which means difficulty has gone. Vietnamese people not only eat this food daily but cook it at the end of a year with a wish about a better new year. When you eat bitter melon, it tastes bitter at first but it becomes delicious after that. Although it’s not easy to eat bitter melon and the bitter broth of the soup, this food is very healthy and worth trying. Let’s find out why Vietnamese people love to eat Soup with Bitter Melon Stuffed with Pork.

Stir-fried dishes

1. Stir-fried Bean Sprouts

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2. Stir-fried Morning Glory

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3. Stir-fried Green Bean

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4. Stir-fried Greens

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5. Stir-fried Kohlrabi

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Fresh Vegetables/Pickles

1. Salad

2. Sliced cucumber

3. Pickled Greens

4. Herbs

5. Tomato

Drinks

1. Iced Tea

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2. Chinese Herb Tea

3. Corn Milk

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4. Sugar Cane Juice

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5. Milk with Lotus Seed

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Eating Saigon is a great thing to do on your trip. How to eat the city to its fullest? A Saigon Food Tour is a great choice to immerse into the city life, enjoy all the exotic foods with your tour guides as friends.

You might like these:

Vietnamese Claypot Rice and Smashed Flying Rice

Top Dishes at Ben Thanh Market

Top Rice Noodle Soups in Vietnam